Two Seaford College teams braved the new world of a public speaking competition on Zoom this week to compete against four other teams from local schools.   

Head of English, Kevin Finniear, said: "The Year 9 team, competing against students from Years 10 and 11, came second and progress now to the English Speaking Union Regional Finals.  Eva Payne was the main speaker, delivering a passionate and expertly written speech about the environment: ‘Is it too late to save the planet?’  Eva spoke about the climate crisis, the impact of Greta Thunberg and the need to take action to prevent species becoming extinct. She concluded her speech by appealing to her listeners to take action, saying, ‘We have to shout louder, lobby our governments and industries more ferociously and make changes in our own lives to make a difference.’ Maizie Amin was confident and reassuring in her role as chair and Emily Freud posed some probing and considered questions to another team’s speaker. All three students were thrilled with their success in what was their first experience at a public speaking competition.

Our Year 11 team of George Gibbens, Ed Gordon-Thomson and Sam Brown came a close fourth out of six and were commended by the head judge for their positive and direct approach.  George put in an impressive performance, speaking on the topic of whether life is actually simple but we make it complex."